John Palin

Rifle shooter John Palin competed at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, and finished fifth in the small-bore rifle, prone, 50 metres event at Mexico City. He was just one point off the bronze medal position. Palin went to the München Olympics as one of the favourites, and just four weeks before the Games, at an international meeting in Switzerland, he scored a maximum 600 points, which the British and Swiss acknowledged as a world record. Unfortunately, the International Shooting Union did not recognise it because the format in the event did not comply exactly with their rules. Sadly for Palin, he was below his best form at München and finished 54th out of 101 starters.

Palin started shooting at the age of 13 while attending the Allhallows public school in Devon but did not take it up again until joining the Royal Artillery. He made his début for Great Britain in the 1959 Dewar Trophy, a postal event between teams from GB and the USA. He went on to compete in the annual match between the two countries for the Pershing Trophy four times between 1961-73.

Palin was runner-up in the 1962 British small-bore championship at Bisley, and in 1965 broke the world 50 metres small-bore rifle prone record during the trials for the European Championships. With a score of 598 out of a possible 600 he bettered, by one point, the record of László Hammerl (Hungary) and Lones Wigger (USA) set at the Tokyo Olympics. Palin went on to win silver at the Europeans. By profession, Palin worked for the giant Shell-Mex BP petroleum company.